Welding apparatus



Jan. 5, 1937. J. w, DAWSON WELDING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 27, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 5, 1937. J. w. DAWSON 2,066,929

WELDING APPARATUS Filed oct. 27, 1934 2 sheets-sheet 2 7"@ onlraI/ez far Vapor '/I/f/l/M WITNESSES: INVENTOR ATTOR EY Patented Janil 5, 1937 M lTED TApiES PA t i C E WElLlllllNG APPARATUS Pennsylvania Application @ctober 27,

l Claims..

My invention relates generally to electric welding and it has particular relation to resistance welding.

When a welding shop is organized on a production basis, a number of Welders may be employed tor performing duplicate or nearly duplicate welding operations. For example, automobile bodies, refrigerator evaporators, containers in the form of metallic barrels or drums and the like are all manufactured on a production basis through the use oi duplicate machines.

Since all of the welding machines for perform ing the welding operations may operate on the same duty cycle, it is feasible and desirable to use a common control system ,for all of the welders. The common control system is not only less expensive in installation cost than one individual to each machine, but also it permits the manufacture of a more uniform product since it is possible to more accurately control the entire range of welding operations.

l'n spot welding it is desirable to provide for connecting each individual spot welding machine to disconnecting it from the common 25 power circuit only` when the power circuit is not energized. When such operation is the other welding machines, the power factor or".

which be somewhat different.

Accordingly, it is an object of my invention to provide a control system for a plurality oi welders which shall be simple and efficient in operation and which may be readily and economically manufactured and installed.

The principal object of my invention is to provide for controlling the ow of current to a plurality or welding machines.

.an important object of my invention is to provide for connecting a spot Welder to apower circuit and to disconnect it therefrom only when no current is iiowing in the power circuit.

Another object of my invention is to provide for connecting a plurality oi welders to a power circuit at or after the zero point in the beginning of the halt cycle of current which is adapted to be conducted through the Welder having the largest power factor angle.

lio

31934, Serial No. '35@,299

((Cl. 21g-fl) Other objects of my invention will, in part, be

obvious and, in part, appear hereinafter.

My invention accordingly is disclosed in the embodiment hereof shown in the accompanying drawings and comprises the features of construction, combination or" elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinaiter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

For a more complete understanding or the nature and scope oi my invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description talren in connection with the accompanying drawings,

in which:

Figure l illustrates diagrammatically a concrete embodiment of my invention;

Fig. r2 illustrates diagrammatically the phototimer which is shown in lr'lig. l, and

Figs. 3 and l show a number of curves which demonstrate a novel mode of operation of pan allel connected spot Welders.

Referring now particularly to the drawings, the reference character lll designates generally a source of alternating current which is provided to energize a welding or power circuit compris@ ing conductors ll 'and l?. A plurality or welding machines, each being shown generally at lil, as a spot welding machine, may be connected or energization' to the power circuit. 'lt will be ob- Served that only three welding machines i3, designated as Nos. l, and 3, have been illus trated in the diagram, but it will be understood that as many machines may be connected to the power circuit as may appear to be desirable. Since the Welders i3 and associated apparatus may, for practical purposes, be identical, the same set oi reference characters will be applied to corresponding elements or each of the maa chines.

rEhe welder lil is provided with the customary welding transformer having a secondary winding lll which may be connected to the welding `electrodes lil in the usual manner. lThe primary winding lli may be connected for energization to w @all Iw is energized, and contact members Ic which are bridged when the operating winding |810 is deenergized.

The control relay I8 may be energized by the operator by means of a treadle switch, shown generally at I9, the contact members |9a of which are bridged when it is operated to connect the operating winding |8w of the control relay I8 across a control source which may be represented by the conductors 20 and 2|.

As set forth hereinbefore, there are many instances where duplicate work is being performed by a. plurality oi spot welding machines. Each of the machines is' operating on the same duty cycle with regard to the time of application of welding current. vIt is, therefore, feasible and desirable to provide a single control system which will be common to all of the Welders and will, therefore, obviate the necessity of providing control equipment individual to each of them.

With this plan of operation in mind, I have provided a pair of vapor electric devices 24 and 25 which are inversely connected in series circuit relation between the power conductor I2 and the source of alternating current I0. The vapor electric devices 24 and 25 are arranged to conduct the entire flow of current which is supplied to one of the Welders I3 or to as many as may be connected to the conductors-1| and I2 at any one time. I n y Each of the vapor electric devices 24 and 25 is provided, respectively, with an anode 26 and 21, a. mercury pool cathode 28 and 29, and a starter electrode 30 and 3|. caused to ilow through either of the starter electrodes 30 or 3|, a cathode spot will be formed at its junction with the cathode 28 or 29 and the vapor electric devices 24 and 25 will be rendered conducting provided the polarity applied to the anodes and cathodes is that for which they are adapted to be conducting.

As illustrated in the drawings, the starter electrodes 30 and 3| may be connected to a ccntroller, shown generally at 34, which is arranged to provide the necessary starting current. A photo-timer, shown generally at 36, is provided for controlling the time in any half cycle and the number of half cycles during which the vapor electric devices 24 and 25v may be conducting.

As illustrated more fully in Fig. 2, the phototimer 36 comprises a motor 31, which is preferably a synchronous motor, that is arranged to drive a disk 36. In the periphery of the disk 38, a. limited number of teeth and slots are provided, as at 39 where four slots are illustrated, which are arranged to intercept at 40, Fig. l, light rays from a light source 4| which fall on a photo cell 42. When the light rays impinge on the photo cell 42 through the slots, the controller 34 is arranged to cause starting current to flow through the appropriate starting electrode 30 or 3| in order to render either of the vapor electric devices 24 or 25 conducting, as the case may be.

For a more complete description of the details of construction and operation of the controller 34 and the photo timer 36, reference may be had to my copending application, Serial No. 728,363, illed May 31, 193i, and the copending application ot Edwin H. Vedder, Serial No. '710,095 led February '7, 1934, both of which applications are assigned to the assignee of this application.

With a view to preventing the energization of the operating winding Iw of the control re- When current isv lay I 8, except at a predetermined time, normally open contact members 45 which may be arranged to be closed by means of a projection 46, which is carried, as illustrated, by the disk 38, are provided. As shown, the projection 46 is arranged to engage a projection 4'I which is placed in its path in order to close the normally` open contact members 45.

It is desirable to maintain the operating Winding I Bw of the control relay I8 energized as long as the power conductors II and i2 are energized in order to maintain the line switch I1 in the operated condition. When the control relay I8 is operated, an obvious circuit is completed through its contact members |8b and the normally closed contact members 48 to maintain the operating winding |8w energized until the contact members 4B are opened by the engagement of the projection 46 with a projection 49 as the disk 38 is rotated.

While each of the spot welding machines I3 may be of identical construction, it is possible that the constants thereof comprising resistance and inductance may be such that they will offer diierent impedanceV values to the flow of current.

greater or less than the power factor angle of the remaining machines. When machines having different power factor angles are connected in parallel circuit relation, the transient effect of current now thereto must be taken into consideration. This is especially true if there is a wide variation in the power factor angles of the various machines.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 3 of the drawings, the curve to which the reference character E is applied represents the wave form oi the voltage which is applied to the power conductors II and I2. rl'heA curve I1 may be considered to represent the current which will flow to the No. I Welder under normal steady state conditions. It will be observed that the curve I1 intercepts its axis at point r, The corresponding zero points for the current curve of Welder No. 2 operating alone are indicated by o. A l

Assuming that `both Welders Nos. I and 2 are connected `to the conductors and I2, and that current is caused to flow thereto at a time corresponding to the first zero point of the Wave I1, the current which will flow in Welder No. 2 may be represented by the dotted line Iz. Due to the fact that current is caused to flow through the No. 2 Welder at a time in advance of that at which it would flow during the steady state conditions, an unbalanced transient phenomena results, which may be indicated by the hatched areas under the voltage E. These areas represent the time during which voltage is applied to the primary windings I6 of the Welders Nos. and 2. It will be observed that the hatched area under the curve E above the axis is greater than the hatched-area below the axis. This indicates that a finite average voltage is applied to the power circuit rather than a zero average voltage. This voltage will cause a direct current component to flow which may ultimately effect the saturation of the cores of the transformers connected to the circuit. This condition is highly undesirable.

In order to apply an average voltage of zero to the primary winding I6, I propose to control the time at which the vapor electric devices 24 Stated diierently, the power factor anglev of each of the welding machines I3 may be and 25 are rendered conducting in accordance 75 with the Welder having the larger power factor angle, i. e. Welder No. 2, in this instance. Ii the vapor electric devices 24 and 25 are arranged to be conducting, as illustrated in Fig. 4, at a time subsequent to the natural zero point at the beginning of the current Wave of the Welder having the larger power factor angle, an average voltage of zero will be applied and the vdirect current component in the alternating current will not appear. In Fig. 4, the curve l1', represents the current which flows through the primary Winding it of Welder No. l and the curve la represents the current flowing through the primary Winding it of Welder No. l under the assumed power factor conditions. In this ligure, the zero points of the curves L and L are represented in the same manner as in Fig. 3. 1t Will now be noted that the cross hatched areas above and below the axis under the voltage Wave E are equal thereby indicating that an average voltage of zero is applied to the Welders.

ln operation, the photo-timer it is adjusted to cause the vapor electric devices @il and l to become conducting at some point which is later than the zero point of the current Wave of the Welder having the largest power factor angle. However, no current will flow to any 'of the Welders until the line switches il are closed.

ln order to close the line switch Ill, the operator depresses the treadl'e switch lli thereby completing a circuit for energizing the operating winding liiw of the control relay lil and, in

turn, the operating winding llw of the line switch il.

'The circuit for energizing the Winding lllw may be traced from the energized conductor ll through conductors 55 and operating winding conductors lll and ttl, normally closed bach contact members lllc, conductor 59, Contact members lila, conductors lill and normally open contact members d5 and conductor t2 to the energized conductor 2li.`

The foregoing circuit will be completed only when the normally open contact members l5 are closed, as is the case when the projection lli on the dislr engages the projection il on the contact members lli lille operation of the control relay lil completes an obvious energizing circuit for the operating `winding llw of the line switch ll and atcontactmembers lla the circuit is completed for connecting the primary winding lli across tl'iepower conductors ll and l2. The operation or control relay l@ also completes alcircuit for holding itseli in., so that the operator need not hold the treadle switch lil in the depressed position for a time longer than is necessary to enect the operation oi the control relay lll.

The circuit for holding the operating winding tlrn energized may loe traced from the energized conductor 2l.' through conductors 55 and op= @rating Winding loro, conductors and lit, conm tact members ith, conductors and lid, normally closed contact members ill and conductor E35 to the energized conductor lll.

The contact members itc are arranged to be held closed until the maire contact members ich are closed in order to insure that the operating winding liiw is maintained energized. 'lille foregoing holding circuit will be completed as long as the normally closed Contact members 48 remain in the closed position. Assuming, however, that the operator has released the treadle switch la, the operating Winding lilw will be deenergized as soon as the projection 46 engages the projection 4S on the normally closed contact members 48, thereby opening them to open the holding circuit.

The sequence of operation of any of the Welders is identical with that hereinabove set forth. It will be observed that it is possible to operate the line switch l'l only during the interval whenthe vapor electric devices 24 and 25 are not supplying power to energize the powery conductors III and l2. Therefore, the design of the line switches l1 may be relatively simple and inexpensive, since at no time are they called upon to close or open a circuit Where arcing is liable to occur.

ln view of the fact that the photo-timer 36 is so adjusted as to permit the vapor electric devices 24 and 25 to become conducting only at or after the zero point in the current Wave of the Welders having the largest power factor angle, no saturation of the cores of the transformer associated with the Welders will occur and, therefore, there Will be no direct current component present which, due to its cumulative effect, might eventually overload the vapor electric devices 2li and 25).

While the foregoing system has been described in particular relation to spot welding machines, it will be readily understood that the vapor electric devices 2d and 25 may be generally employed to supply pulsating power for dierent numbers and portions of half cycles of alternating current. Thus a plurality of seam Welders may be connected to the power bus represented by the conductors ll and l 2 and-the circuit interlocking scheme .fmay be dispensed with. Since the load current to each seam Welder would be broken only at the end of a relatively large number or" successive Welding operations the arcing which would be present if the circuit were opened at other than the vero period of the current Wave will be of little moment.

Since certain iur-ther changes may be made in the foregoing construction and different ern bodirnents of the invention may be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matters ,contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

l claim as my invention:

l. A resistance welding system comprising, in combination, a source of alternating current, a plurality of Welders disposed to be connected in parallel circuit relation, circuit means connecting the vWelders to the source of alternating current, circuit closing means interposed in the circuit means for controlling the now oi current to all of the Welders simultaneously, control means disposed to operate said circuit closing means to complete the circuit to the Welders for predetermined intervals, switch means indiu vldual to each Welder for connecting it to said circuit means, and means for preventing the operation oi said switch means while current s being supplied to perform the welding operaion.

2. A resistance Welding system comprising, in combination, a source of alternating current, a plurality of Welders disposed to be connected in parallel circuit relation, circuit means connecting the Welders `to the source of alternating current, circuit closing means interposed in the circuit means for controlling the flow of current to all of the Welders simultaneously, control means disposed to operate said circuit closing switch means being held closed through said normally closed contact means until the opening thereof.

3. A resistance welding system comprising, in combination, a source of alternating current, a plurality of Welders disposed to be connected in parallel circuit relation, circuit means connecting the Welders to the source of alternating current, circuit closing means interposed in the circuit means for controlling the ow of current to all of the Welders simultaneously, control means disposed to operate said circuit closing means to complete the circuit to the Welders for predetermined intervals, normally open contact means disposed to be closed prior to the flow of current to the Welders, normally closed contact means disposed to be opened after current ceases to flow to the Welders, a line switch individual to each Welder for connecting it to said circuit means, a control relay for effecting the operation of each line switch, and a manually operable switch for effecting the energization o! each control relay through said normally open contact means, said control relay being held closed through said normally closed contact means until the opening thereof.

4. 'I'he method of connecting to an alternating current source a plurality of parallel connected Welders having different circuit constants which comprises initiating the iiow of current to the Welders at such time that the average value of the voltage applied to the Welders will be substantially zero during the welding period.

5. A resistance Welding system comprising, in combination, a plurality of resistance welding devices, a power circuit for connecting said welding devices to a current source, means interposed in said power circuit for controlling the now of current to all of said welding devices simultaneously to permit current to intermittently iiow thereto, means individual to each welding device for connecting it to said power circuit, and means for preventing the operation of said last named means While current is being supplied to perform a Welding operation.

6. A resistance Welding system comprising, in combination, a plurality of resistance welding devices, a power circuit for connecting said Welding devices to a current source, means interposed in said power circuit for controlling the flow of current to all of said welding devices simultaneously to permit current to flow thereto during predetermined intervals of time, switch means individual to each welding device for connecting it to said power circuit, and control means for effecting the operation of said switch means to connect a welding device to said power circuit only between said intervals of time.

7. A resistance welding system comprising, in combination, a plurality of resistance welding devices, a power circuit for connecting said Welding devices to a current source, means interposed in said power circuit for controlling the flow of current to all of said Welding devices simultaneously to permit current to flow thereto during predetermined intervals of time, switch means individual to each welding device for connecting it to said power circuit, control means for eifecting the operation of said switch means to connect a welding device to said power circuit only between said intervals of time, and additional control means for effecting the operation of said switch means to disconnect a welding device from said power circuit only between said intervals of time.

JOHN W. DAWSON. 

